I used to be a big fan of the circus, but…you know…I’m not 8 anymore. Everyone keeps telling me about how great Cirque is, but I feel like I couldn’t enjoy it without the Paul Rudd treatment from “Knocked Up”.

Instead, the only circus-related activity I enjoy watching involves YouTube and a certain former WWF star…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC4qriqlfDM[/youtube]

It’s almost unbelievable to remember Doink The Clown having faced Triple H…like…ever.

If you care about the Caps, there are two WNST Moosehead Puck Buses this week. I encourage you to hop aboard.

I don’t like Washington and don’t care about the Caps myself, so I have other hockey-related thoughts to share.

I’m headed out to Phoenix this week for a quick vacation. It’s just too cold here. I’m very excited because I get to see the Coyotes Friday night. (They’re playing the Colorado Avalanche.) As I’ve said before, I root for the ‘Yotes because we never had a team in Charm City.

I just found out yesterday that Friday night is Ilya Bryzgalov bobblehead night. I’m FREAKING OUT…

If you listen to “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST (and why the hell wouldn’t you?), you know Drew Forrester and I are ALL IN when it comes to Ra Ra Riot. They’re strong.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVun8pRhNQQ[/youtube]

Good Charlotte may be from Waldorf, but they’re huge Baltimore Orioles fans. Benji Madden and Joel Madden in fact BOTH have O’s tattoos if I remember right. Either way, Festival Song will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4t54bPUvmg[/youtube]

I only know one song the Get Up Kids have ever done, and it was a cover of The Cure. But damn was it good…

I got to see Strikeforce live for the first time this past Saturday night in New Jersey. With any luck, the smell will come out by St. Patrick’s Day.

The bad news for Strikeforce is that Fedor Emelianenko-the only fighter Strikeforce had that non-MMA hardcores gave a rip about-was eliminated from their World Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament.

The good news for Strikeforce is that on Saturday night they also officially announced the return of Gina Carano. I’d like to tell you that I think she’s a good fighter. The reality is that no one knows and even fewer care…

For the record, I tried posting the “Gina Carano is back” video Strikeforce showed on Showtime Saturday night; but it wasn’t up on YouTube yet. It’s a lovely video. Trust me.

I know that without Monday Night Football there might be a few more folks interested in checking out the Caps face the Pens in a Winter Classic rematch. I won’t be one of them. I hate the Redskins, I hate the Steelers. So I just don’t care for the hockey teams in those cities either.

BUT…if Penguins goalie Brent Johnson gets in another fight like the one he got into against the New York Islanders the other night…I’d be ALL IN…at least to watch the highlights on SportsCenter or something.

And with this, Lacrosse is now REALLY back in Charm City. Sadly, it will only kill a handful of Saturdays during MLB season for me, and there won’t be NEARLY enough weeknight games to avoid baseball altogether-but at least there’s an entertaining outdoor sport to watch.

This is also very awkward because I try to support all of the local teams, but they face off more in lacrosse than they do in any other sport.

Things I feel better about than Maryland’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament:

-The American economy
-The Orioles getting Prince Fielder in the offseason
-Katy Perry finally saying “yes” to one of my date requests
-Seeing a new Chris Farley movie one of these days
-Steve Melewski buying me a beer when Drew Forrester and I do our show in Sarasota
-Duke football getting bowl eligible

Nine out of ten NBA games are awful as it is, yet somehow the ASG finds a way to be even more awful than that.

I guess the dunk contest has occasionally been watchable…and is certainly the only reason any of us are familiar with names like Harold Miner or Gerald Green. And by “any of us” I mean “I went to Wikipedia and looked up to see who all won dunk contests in the past.”

Seriously, why the hell don’t they just put down trampolines and do the whole contest Slamball-style?!?!?

I got to see Strikeforce live for the first time this past Saturday night in New Jersey. With any luck, the smell will come out by St. Patrick’s Day.

The bad news for Strikeforce is that Fedor Emelianenko-the only fighter Strikeforce had that non-MMA hardcores gave a rip about-was eliminated from their World Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament.

The good news for Strikeforce is that on Saturday night they also officially announced the return of Gina Carano. I’d like to tell you that I think she’s a good fighter. The reality is that no one knows and even fewer care…

For the record, I tried posting the “Gina Carano is back” video Strikeforce showed on Showtime Saturday night; but it wasn’t up on YouTube yet. It’s a lovely video. Trust me.

I know that without Monday Night Football there might be a few more folks interested in checking out the Caps face the Pens in a Winter Classic rematch. I won’t be one of them. I hate the Redskins, I hate the Steelers. So I just don’t care for the hockey teams in those cities either.

BUT…if Penguins goalie Brent Johnson gets in another fight like the one he got into against the New York Islanders the other night…I’d be ALL IN…at least to watch the highlights on SportsCenter or something.

And with this, Lacrosse is now REALLY back in Charm City. Sadly, it will only kill a handful of Saturdays during MLB season for me, and there won’t be NEARLY enough weeknight games to avoid baseball altogether-but at least there’s an entertaining outdoor sport to watch.

This is also very awkward because I try to support all of the local teams, but they face off more in lacrosse than they do in any other sport.

Things I feel better about than Maryland’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament:

-The American economy
-The Orioles getting Prince Fielder in the offseason
-Katy Perry finally saying “yes” to one of my date requests
-Seeing a new Chris Farley movie one of these days
-Steve Melewski buying me a beer when Drew Forrester and I do our show in Sarasota
-Duke football getting bowl eligible

Nine out of ten NBA games are awful as it is, yet somehow the ASG finds a way to be even more awful than that.

I guess the dunk contest has occasionally been watchable…and is certainly the only reason any of us are familiar with names like Harold Miner or Gerald Green. And by “any of us” I mean “I went to Wikipedia and looked up to see who all won dunk contests in the past.”

Seriously, why the hell don’t they just put down trampolines and do the whole contest Slamball-style?!?!?

Three points to consider, for Friday’s show, and/or general water cooler debate.

The departure of Terps defensive coordinator Don Brown last week seemed to come and go without a lot of fanfare. In this case it would seem that Terps fans have conceded the fact that turnabout is fair play.

Given the unceremonious, if not completely out of the blue exit by Terps new head football coach Randy Edsall from his previous post at the University of Connecticut shortly after their loss in the Fiesta Bowl at the hands of Oklahoma and considering the abrupt and unpopular ouster of Edsall’s predecessor Ralph Friedgen, the willingness of Brown to apparently stick around may have been considered surprising to some in the first place. More surprising however would have to be the quick turnabout he made on that decision to instead take the same post at the aforementioned University of Connecticut.

From Brown’s perspective, it may make sense to relocate back to New England and closer to his family, an opportunity that’s becoming more and more popular these days, evidenced also by Greg Mattison’s decision to leave his defensive coordinator post with the Ravens and accept the same position at the University of Michigan.

More than anything, it feels like a jab at Edsall and Terps’ athletic director Kevin Anderson by the school that both recently left high and dry in the estimation of some. That he at least waited until after National Signing Day to announce his decision may speak to a desire to cause as little disruption on his way out the door as possible, or a calculated attempt at leaving a number of recent signees disgruntled and feeling deceived. As if Anderson needed to provide any more fodder for the fans and press anxious to take him to task, some are advocating giving defensive recruits the chance to opt out of letters of intent if they feel slighted by Brown’s departure.

My guess is that whether he is being used as a pawn in this high stakes game of one-upmanship or not, Don Brown will likely have a fair share of success and therefore enjoyment during his time at Connecticut. Maybe it’s a case of right guy, wrong reason for UConn. Hopefully the Terps will find their right guy in Randy Shannon or someone else soon too.

Someone’s 0 Has Got to Go

In the fight game, when you hear that someone’s 0 has to go, it usually means the makings of an exciting fight, even though Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander did their best to disprove that notion last Saturday. And before I go any further, I should mention that it’s a great weekend on tap for fight fans too. Friday Night Fights is on ESPN and ShoBox on Showtime on Friday night, and then the first 2 fights in the Strikeforce Heavyweight MMA Tournament on Showtime on Saturday.

As for someone’s 0 having to go however, for that we’ll look to Sunday evening in the NBA. That’s because unless the Cleveland Cavaliers somehow manage to beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night, they’ll be hosting the Washington Wizards while riding an NBA record 27-game losing streak. The Wizards will bring to Cleveland with them a 25-game road-losing streak to begin the season and are closing in on that dubious all-time record themselves, currently 29 by the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks. Thus, someone’s 0 has got to go. I’m betting it’ll be the Cavs who win it. They will after all be resting up at home, as the Wizards host San Antonio on Saturday before venturing to Cleveland the following day.

Maybe Wizards coach Flip Saunders will weigh his priorities, pick his battles, and rest his starters as much as possible against the Spurs on Saturday, as there’s little chance of beating them anyway. You might safely guess that both teams have been looking forward to this game for a while and have the date circled on their respective calendars. It may not be pageantry, but it should make for a spectacle worth watching anyway.

NBA’s Labor Fight Beginning to Take Shape Too

As the NFL and its fans prepare themselves for an extended lesson in labor law, it has seemingly been easy from the outside looking in to see that the league has been doing a more than credible job of building fodder this season with which they can attempt to drive negotiations and distract attention from the real monetary issues at the heart of the matter. For their part the players haven’t been doing themselves a lot of favors either, from the Albert Haynesworth saga in Washington to the Antonio Cromartie proclamations at season’s end, the players seem to have their fair share of issues to overcome, not the least of which is that they’re poised to do battle with possibly the best PR and marketing machine in America in the NFL and it’s owners.

On the NBA side of things, we might not be as prone to believe that the owners are nearly as savvy or capable in the spin and marketing departments as in the NFL, but again in this case, it seems that the players aren’t doing themselves any favors.

NFL players are getting the worst financial deal in all of the major American professional sports, yet still seem to garner little sympathy from the public as they are about to see those benefits even further lessened. For those who have grown weary of the outlandish salary climate in sports in general, look no further than the NBA, where matching up cap numbers drives every trade, trades are routinely pulled off only to see players bought out of their contracts by the acquiring team that didn’t want them in the first place and only included them in the deal to make the financials work, after which the players often go back and get more money by signing with the team that traded them in the first place. Look no further than the league where terrible players with outlandish salaries are seen as commodities only because those outlandish contracts are set to expire and the league where luxury taxes, salary exceptions and trade coupons are as much a part of the game as picks and rolls to flame your disdain for the excesses of professional sports.

Jerry Sloan’s surprising mid-season resignation due to his apparent inability to get along with or tolerate the tendencies of the team’s star player and one of the league’s premier point guards in Deron Williams, is just the latest in a chain of events that give clear indication to fans that the inmates are running the asylum in the NBA. From last summer’s “The Decision” and formation of the “Riley’s Angels” triumvirate in Miami, to the season long Carmelo-drama surrounding Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets, to rumors of another Big 3 in New York that may or may not include Chris Paul, all signs point to the fact that NBA owners have lost control of their game. Here’s betting that all of the aforementioned weighs heavily in driving public sentiment toward those owners as the NBA goes to collective bargaining. Add to that, the fact that they’ll likely have successful model to follow in watching how NFL owners get their deal done, and it’s tough to see the NBA’s owners losing this time around.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen LP live. They’ve gotten much better…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qF_qbaWt3Q[/youtube]

I’ve said this before on Facebook…until she came back recently, I spent hours upon hours every week wondering what had happened to the amazing former Fugees singer/rapper. I’ve been a fan since Sister Act 2. Honestly…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7rSZFxuanc[/youtube]

Picking one Jimmy Eat World song to post here is impossible. I’ll cop out and post “My Best Theory.” Damn these guys are good…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk47ecL1z5w[/youtube]

The video sucks, but here’s “Movin’ Out” from Shea Stadium. William Joel is the greatest. Ever.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy cars…it’s just that…the only time I ever need to look at cars is when I check out the very nice, very affordable vehicles available to me at Koons Ford Security Boulevard. (Do I get a dollar for that?)

Now if THIS car were to be at the Motor Trend show, I’d not only attend-I’d move in…

I feel like I’ve read this book before. Wasn’t it called “The Blind Side” and written by Michael Lewis? And didn’t the ensuing movie somehow lead to this amazing moment where Sandra Bullock kissed Scarlett Johansen at the MTV Movie Awards???

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evwm-PP6xVw[/youtube]

In all honesty, I’m happy Michael Oher is telling his side of the story. In fact, we’re going to have him on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST at 8:20am Wednesday to talk about it.

And since this is the first post after the end of the NFL season, I’ll wrap the year up by saying THIS Doritos spot was absolutely my favorite from the Super Bowl…

Despite the fact that “MMA Report” host Thyrl Nelson crapped out on coming with me, I’m looking forward to heading up to the Meadowlands this weekend to see my first ever live Strikeforce event.

If you missed Allistair Overeem and Herschel Walker talking up Strikeforce with myself and Nestor Aparicio on “The Afternoon Drive” last Friday, it’s worth checking out in the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault here at WNST.net.

It wasn’t the best radio we did at Radio Row last week though. That honor would either go to the great Frank Caliendo…

Really hard to get a whole lot of anger built up towards Longwood. In fact, if my girlfriend didn’t have family in Farmville, Virginia-I’m not sure I (or ANYONE who might ever read this) could possibly know Longwood was really a college and not just a name that made hoops fans giggle.

The Eagles are a different animal. I despise EVERYTHING from Boston. Beantown sucks. But I have a special disdain for those freaking “Super Shirts.”

My friend Brady Gardiner from MLB Network Radio commented on Facebook that if you attend the 2:00 edition of Monster Jam Saturday in DC, you’ll have time to make it to the 8:00 performance of “Cymbeline” at the Shakespeare Theatre Company next door.

A couple names to follow during the Senior Bowl include Allen Bailey & Leonard Hankerson from Miami, as well as Mark Herzlich from Boston College.

This is always a good news/bad news day for the city of Mobile. The good news is that they get to host a great event. The bad news is that they know there won’t be anything else happening there all year that anyone will want to attend.

Look, I’m not a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins OR the Washington Capitals, so I don’t have a dog in the hunt. The Pens may have lost on the ice at Heinz Field Saturday; but there was one area where they DIDN’T lose…

It’s a Happy Wednesday for me because it’s time to name two new “Greatest Song(s) of All Time This Week.”

I’ll start with the Retro Version. The retro version is in honor of tonight’s start of Hanukkah. My personal favorite (half) Jew is the great Lenny Kravitz, so here’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” If you’ve seen Lenny recently, please tell him to come back. He was freaking AMAZING.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLhpHjmxNw8[/youtube]

The NEW version of TGSOATTW is a song heard prominently on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST. I hope that tonight’s Grammy Awards nomination announcement features the band Ra Ra Riot. “Shadow Casting” is quite good…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvcxieyeg4k[/youtube]
Let’s see what everyone has to say…

As I reported yesterday, the Ravens also tried out former Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans TE/FB Joel Gamble before going with McKie. I was told they made the decision because they felt McKie was more of a natural fullback while Gamble was more of a hybrid. Gamble is a Baltimore native (and Carver grad).

As far as McKie is concerned, I can’t imagine him being asked to do much more than block-but they’ll definitely need him to block. The likelihood is that Le’Ron McClain’s ankle will probably keep him out Sunday night, and the Ravens’ current roster options just aren’t particularly good. Dennis Pitta can help and Jalen Parmele could see the field; but in a game where running the ball will be important-the Ravens will need a true blocking back.

Don’t rule out Hamlin returning to Charm City at some point this season. He was cut once (to make room for Prince Miller humorously enough) but returned in favor of Trevor Pryce. The Ravens like the veteran presence that Hamlin gives them-but he hasn’t even been active much in recent weeks.

Of course, if Sabrina Maree lived in the Steel City (or here in Baltimore); I’m not so sure Big Ben wouldn’t be too distracted to make it to the game Sunday night. (Thanks The Beer Goggler via Busted Coverage!)

Calm down. The only three teams ahead of the Ravens are the Atlanta Falcons, New England Patriots and New York Jets; who are all 9-2. The Ravens are first amongst the 8-3 teams.

Before we move on from the Ravens, a few things…

-I’m all for the idea of a “No Means No” chant Sunday night. I think it has to start during TV timeouts right before the Steelers take the ball. If this happens, I will seriously OWE the city of Baltimore for being so freaking awesome.

-The Ravens return to the practice field at 1 Winning Drive in Owings Mills today. We’ll of course be out there to cover everything happening on and off the practice field. Make sure you remain tuned in to AM1570 WNST, checking out WNST.net and following us on Twitter (@WNST).

Connolly says Jason Bartlett will be dealt by the Tampa Bay Rays, but not to Baltimore. Miguel Tejada is headed to the San Francisco Giants, who lost Juan Uribe to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It could still be an option for the Minnesota Twins to deal JJ Hardy, but they’re not guaranteed to sign Tsuyoshi Nishioka or not move him to second base.

The only other real options for Coach of the Year were Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher and Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer. As the Seminoles did basically what everyone expected them to do and the Hokies only started playing well after losing to Boise State and James Madison; it would have been hard to justify either being honored ahead of Friedgen.

And I’m not sure I have many more words to scribe regarding O’Brien. Maybe it’s best the Terrapins DIDN’T make it to Charlotte to play in the ACC Championship Game. I’m not sure what else I could have said about him.

Did you miss Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association President Richard Hoffberger Wednesday morning with Drew Forrester on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST? Make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault here at WNST.net today to check it out! Other things you’ll find in the Audio Vault include…